During the next decade, increasing crusades of concerned advocates for civil rights headed south to seek equality in voting rights, educational opportunities and public facilities for minority residents.
Three of them - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner - were murdered in the summer of 1964 after being arrested for speeding while on the way to investigate the apparent arson of a church.
The brutality of their deaths was depicted in the movie, "Mississippi Burning," as was the fact that nobody was charged with the crime of murder, and a few served brief sentences for nothing more serious than conspiracy.
Fast forward 40 years to Adlai Stevenson High School in pristine Lincolnshire, where a social studies teacher and three students began assembling information about the case and producing a video documentary titled "We Are Not Afraid."
The National History Day project by Allison Nichols, Brittany Saltiel and Sarah Siegel, encouraged by faculty member Barry Bradford, soon rekindled the outrage that erupted in 1964 but fizzled after justice was denied in federal court.
The U.S. Justice Department and the governor of Mississippi called for review of the incident, and a congressional resolution urged the state's attorney general to reopen the case.
He did, and on June 21 - exactly 41 years after the three murders - a jury found 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen guilty of manslaughter, and a judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison.
ISBA President Bob Downs praised the initiative of the three women, now high school seniors looking forward to college, as he handed Presidential Commendations to them on Aug. 15.
(Ironically, Killen's family was trying to raise funds that day for the $600,000 bond that would permit him to be released while the conviction and sentence were appealed, and the Mississippi attorney general petitioned the state supreme court to revoke his bail.)
"You have influenced history," Downs told Nichols, Saltiel and Siegel, "and however late, brought about justice. You have helped keep the fire of justice burning."
Recalling 1964, when "too many - the bar the public, the courts and executives of the state - were silent and complicit," Downs noted that all too often a "silent majority" still ignores abuses of power that oppress the disadvantaged around the globe.
"People are still dying, although at the hands of different killers," he said, pointing to civil unrest, massacres, starvation and lack of health care in underdeveloped countries.
Downs then handed each of the three students a plaque in recognition of "determined efforts ... to draw public attention to the need to reopen the 'Mississippi Burning' case, and thereby helping to bring a measure of justice to that dark episode in U.S. history."
Proud fathers - all members of the state bar association - were present. They are Dale K. Nichols of the Northern Trust Co. legal department, David M. Saltiel of Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, and solo practitioner Arnold G. Siegel.
Trial techniques series under way
Although the fall sessions of Fred Lane's Trial Technique Institute began Sept. 13, it is not too late to sign up for the nine-month series.
The weekly classes begin at 5:15 p.m. Tuesdays in the ISBA Chicago Regional Office. Coffee and soft drinks are provided. The complete course consists of 54 hours of learning and practicing the finer points of trial practice.
For registration details, call (312) 726-8775. The fees are $875 for ISBA members and $925 for non-members.
Each 90-minute class presentation is videotaped so participants can review it for progress in voice and manner, or arrange to watch tapes of missed sessions in the ISBA office.
Co-directors of the Trial Technique Institute are ISBA past president Fred Lane, the founder who donated the curriculum to the state bar association, and Scott D. Lane, a member of the Tort Law Section Council.
Guest faculty members for occasional sessions include trial attorneys Philip H. Corboy, Robert Clifford, Kevin T. Martin, Joseph A. Power, Pamela L. Gellen and Andrew Kopon Jr., and Appellate Justice Michael J. Gallagher.
Hayward chaired ABA evaluation of court nominee
Chicago attorney Thomas Z. Hayward Jr. concluded his tenure as chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Federal Judiciary last month by fulfilling a rare opportunity - evaluating a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Exactly 30 days after President George W. Bush revealed his choice of John Roberts Jr. to fill the impending vacancy of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Hayward announced that his committee had found the nominee "well qualified."
Currently a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Roberts had been evaluated previously and given the same rating before his selection by the president on July 19.
The ABA committee's succinct report on Aug. 18 contained no supporting information. "Our finding is our finding," Hayward said. "If we're invited to testify before the Senate, we'll be more specific." The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings were scheduled to begin Sept. 6.
Hayward, a partner in Bell, Boyd & Lloyd and past president of the Chicago Bar Association, noted that the committee's rating was unanimous. Chicago attorney Harold S. Barron of McDermott, Will & Emery has represented the 7th Circuit on the 15-member body.
The Committee on Federal Judiciary works with lawyers who have Supreme Court experience, law professors, former law clerks and assistant solicitors general in reviewing a nominee's legal writing, knowledge and analytic ability,
The detailed findings and committee comments in the evaluation report are disclosed to the Senate committee only if the ABA is asked to testify, Hayward said.
ABA President Michael S. Greco, who was installed last month during the annual meeting in Chicago, commended the committee for its "magnificent job" of completing a comprehensive examination of Roberts' qualifications "in a timely fashion."
New head of ALI-ABA
While Thomas Hayward has termed out as chair of the ABA Committee on Federal Judiciary, his influence within the association continues.
He was appointed Aug. 10 to serve as the first president of a new 12-member board of directors that will govern ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Education, which has provided CLE programs nationwide since 1947.
ALI-ABA, a joint initiative of the American Law Institute and American Bar Association, previously was the responsibility of a 26-member committee. Its executive director since July is Julene Franki, who succeeded retiring Richard E. Carter.
A past member of the ABA Board of Governors, Hayward is vice president of the ABA Museum of Law, which has been housed in the headquarters building at 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, for the past year. He also chaired the committee that recommended relocating ABA offices to this building in 2001.
ABA delegates reject limits on terms, but 4 lose seats
The American Bar Association House of Delegates gave in to the prerogatives of state and local bar associations to decide who will represent them, and for how long, but it took away that right from four smaller organizations.
A number of constitutional amendments were considered by the House of Delegates in its two-day session Aug. 8 and 9 during the ABA annual meeting in Chicago.
A proposal from the ABA Commission on Governance to limit the terms of house delegates to two consecutive three-year terms failed to get the two-thirds vote required to amend the constitution.
The commission had suggested that term limits would lead to greater diversity in the House of Delegates and would provide opportunities for more ABA members to serve in leadership positions.
State and local bar delegates responded, however, that such a provision would intrude on their rights to select representatives who would serve with increasing effectiveness as they gained experience.
The Chicago Council of Lawyers is one of four associations that lost representative seats in the House of Delegates because each has fewer than 2,000 members.
The ABA constitution was amended previously to permit such groups to keep their house seats until the conclusion of the 2005 annual meeting, or if their membership levels rose above the stipulated 2,000 minimum.
A proposal to extend that deadline until 2015 failed to get a two-thirds majority vote, despite an eloquent appeal by Chicago attorney John P. Ratnaswamy.
The other groups that lost seats in the House of Delegates are the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, where ABA past president Dennis Archer was once president; the Lawyers Club of Los Angeles County, and the Lawyers Club of San Francisco.
Niro takes leadership
ISBA past president Cheryl I. Niro of Chicago is now president of the powerful National Caucus of State Bar Associations, a coalition that has significant influence in deliberations of the ABA House of Delegates.
An ISBA delegate to the ABA House for several years, Niro has served during the past year as a member of the House Committee on Technology and Communications, and a vice chair of the Mediation Committee of the Section of Dispute Resolution.
* * *
ISBA President Robert K. Downs, an ISBA delegate to the ABA House, has been appointed to the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.
Awards are presented
Chicago attorneys and retired federal judges George N. Leighton and Abner J. Mikva were recognized with major honors during the ABA annual meeting in Chicago.
Leighton received the ABA Medal on Aug. 8 during the House of Delegates meeting for his long career of protecting human rights. Mikva received the Thurgood Marshall Award on Aug. 6 from the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
Steven A. Drizin, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law, received a Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award on Aug. 7 from the Juvenile Justice Committee of the ABA Section of Criminal Justice.
R. Theodore Clark Jr. of Seyfarth Shaw, Chicago. received a Jefferson B. Fordham Award on Aug. 5 from the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law.
Juan R. Thomas of Chicago received the Solo Practitioner of Merit Award on Aug. 5 from the ABA Section of General Practice, Solo and Small Firms.
The Chicago Tribune received a Silver Gavel Award on Aug. 7 from the ABA Division for Public Education for its publication of "Forensics Under the Microscope."
Foundation funding will help clinic expand volunteer list
The Illinois Bar Foundation has provided a grant of $2,500 to the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic in Chicago in support of the strategic goal of increasing its base of volunteer attorneys.
The participation of Cabrini Green volunteers has been growing steadily - 5,554 hours from 266 attorneys in the past year - and major contributions have been made by a computer guru who built a Web site and installed donated equipment, a grant writer, and a recent law school graduate who handled several family law cases.
Foundation board member Debra B. Walker, who investigated the grant application, called the clinic "amazing. It is a direct legal services provider to low-income individuals throughout the city of Chicago."
Walker added that the mission of CGLA is "to answer God's call to seek justice and mercy by providing legal services to the poorest of the poor" without discriminating. "It serves a very diverse client base," Walker said.
Established in 1973, the legal aid clinic was run for 23 years by founding executive director Chuck Hogren. Anne Nelson took over five years ago, and Robert B. Acton became executive director in March 2004.
Among Acton's plans is expansion of a Family Support Program to connect clients with mentors who can help them get finances in order and obtain health care, and tutor their children.
"These are people who first came to CGLA with legal needs, but who clearly need family support in addition to legal support," Walker noted, when their legal matters are resolved.
For more information about the legal aid clinic and opportunities for volunteer service, call (312) 266-1345.
Women's suffrage program to benefit service project
A benefit program to raise funds for the annual Women Everywhere: Partners in Service Project will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at Winston & Strawn, Chicago.
The featured presentation, "Illinois Women and the Winning of Women's Suffrage," will be performed by historian Leslie Goddart. It includes stories about suffrage parades and famous advocates, such as Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Evanston and Grace Wilbur Trout of Oak Park.
The 85th anniversary of ratification of the 19th Amendment, which secured the right to vote for women, was commemorated on Aug. 26 by the Women's Bar Association of Illinois.
WBAI President Dawn M. Gonzalez of Chicago noted that McCulloch was the third president of the association, serving from 1916 until 1920, and also was president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association.
"Ms. McCulloch proposed a bill giving Illinois women partial suffrage to vote in presidential and municipal elections," Gonzalez said. The legislation was enacted in 1913. That was seven years before the 19th Amendment, which Illinois was the first state to ratify.
Sponsors of the Sept. 29 benefit are the CBA Alliance for Women and Winston & Strawn. There is no charge to attend, but donations are requested for the projects next May.
Bar Foundation honors 'rare individual' William Quinlan
By Stephen Anderson
When Chicago attorney William R. Quinlan was nominated as a Laureate of the ISBA Academy of Illinois Lawyers in 2003, an Appellate Court justice called him "one those rare individuals who are endowed with all the attributes of a great man."
And ISBA past president Timothy Eaton, who nominated Quinlan, said "he exemplifies the caliber of lawyers that the Academy was intended to honor."
Those are the types of endorsements that have singled out the founding partner in Quinlan & Carroll as the legal professional who will receive the Illinois Bar Foundation's 2005 Distinguished Award for Excellence.
He will be so honored during the Bar Foundation Gala, a black-tie benefit on Friday, Oct. 14, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago.
Quinlan's four decades of distinguished service as a lawyer and judge include the unique achievement of having been Chicago city corporation counsel under three diverse mayors: Richard J. Daley, Michael Bilandic and Jane Byrne.
He was elected in 1980 to the Cook County Circuit Court, where he presided in complex litigation on asbestos, salmonella, the Union Oil explosion and the Horizon stadium collapse.
Quinlan was appointed to the Appellate Court in 1985 and he was elected in 1986 but retired in 1989 to resume private practice and respond to many requests for his leadership.
Ever a passionate advocate of a high quality judiciary, he willingly participates in panels such as "The Fundamentals of Running for Judge," which was presented Sept. 13 by the Women's Bar Association of Illinois.